Study of characteristics of a gearless electric drive for a conveyor machine for roasting pellets in non-ferrous metallurgy

Modernization of low-speed process units of non-ferrous metallurgy, aimed at increasing their operational reliability, is an urgent task. It is proposed to solve this problem by transferring the units to a gearless modular electric drive. The electric drive of roasting and sintering conveyor machines was investigated. Similar solutions can be adopted for other low-speed non-ferrous metallurgy units – converters, drum mixers, tubular rotary kilns. The proposed modular arrangement of the electric drive in combination with gearless torque transmission ensures high reliability of the process unit and low product losses that occurred due to electric drive failures. A discussion of the control issues of a gearless modular electric drive (GMED) consisting of a set of traction linear modules (TLM) is presented. The relevance of linking the GMED control issues with thermal state assessments is stated. The modeling of the output voltages and currents of the TLM power source was performed. An analysis of the control capabilities of the GMED modules by regulating the current load and power source frequency, as well as by changing the number of pole pairs of the inductor windings was carried out. It was revealed that the GMED provides wide control capabilities. Thermal calculation of the TLM showed that the winding is in a stressed thermal state and is practically devoid of temperature reserves. In such conditions, long-term operation of the GMED is possible with intensive external blowing. The use of thermal energy of the GMED allows to save burning-off fuel, which gives an economic effect of up to 53,015 rubles/hour. The results of the study are intended for the development of control systems for gearless modular electric drives of low-speed process units in nonferrous metallurgy.The study was carried out at the expense of the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 22-61-00096, https://rscf.ru/project/22-61-00096/.